


Meeting Across the River

by Oxbridge_Grey



Series: My Backwards Walk [1]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Aziraphale has lunch, Backstory, Biblical Scripture References (Abrahamic Religions), Gabriel has thoughts, Gen, Pre-Canon, Prevuil mentions, Roman History, Worldbuilding, roman mentions, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-10 12:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20527877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oxbridge_Grey/pseuds/Oxbridge_Grey
Summary: Gabriel is salty about having to be the guardian angel of an irritating Hebrew boy. Aziraphale meets him and they discuss the situation.





	1. Meeting Across the River

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel to a longer story I’m writing, a drabble into Gabriel’s character and his general hang ups about his line of work.
> 
> I bought a bible for this, I had to open the mail in front of my parents and explain to them that I’d totally bought it not for fanfiction research reasons. And no, my mums danish bible couldn’t help me, no matter how much larger it was.

The wind rustled in the tall reeds by the river Jordan. Disturbing the delicate toga of a single man sat on its eastern beach. The sun was baking the ground that summer, and a lone warbler whistled from a wrinkled olive tree bowing over the opposite bank, but otherwise the man seemed utterly alone.

The man clad in purple, watched the bird patiently, paying no heed to the sun, and instead shifting on the piece of drywood he sat on that could not get comfortable no matter how much he thought about it. He was saving his miracles for later. Though he had an almost endless supply, he couldn’t be frivolous, not when so much was on the line.

  
Eventually his coworker arrived, heard before he was seen. The reeds rustled and there was a delicate panting, along with a quiet expletive, before a second man in a pure white toga pushed through the reeds. He looked quite dishevelled.

  
The man sat by the river didn’t look around at him. “Aziraphale. I was wondering if you’d show up at all. Not a good look for an angel.”

  
“Gabriel.” The angel panted, slowly crouching and falling into an ungraceful seat beside the man dressed in mauve. “My apologies. I got held up on the road by a bunch of thugs. It’s not as easy to travel alone in a toga as it is in Rome.”

  
“Well they weren’t a problem surely?”

  
“I mean, of course not, I was just trying to avoid conflict. I managed to get away without needing to harm anybody.”

  
“Well if they were robbing you they won’t land in Gods favour anyhow.”

  
“That's true Gabriel but I can’t go around ‘removing’ people willy-nilly. It would cause far too much trouble while I’m living here. And there are far too many people I want to remove…”

  
“How is Rome? To you. It looks like you’re enjoying it.”

  
“Oh I was.” Aziraphale nodded with a fond smile before frowning. “Before. I’ve been in Greece recently, Augustus created quite the Oligarchy under everyone’s noses, I didn’t want to stay for much after Cicero left the picture. Lovely man, brilliantly intelligent. Especially his manservant Tiro, an exemplary scribe, he can write as fast as anyone can speak- he could probably take Prevuil’s job if he’s not careful-“

  
“Prevuil hasn’t been God's scribe for a century now Aziraphale.” Gabrial interrupted the angels laugh.

  
“W-wait What? Really?” The man was stunned.

  
“Wow Aziraphale. You really have been here too long. Metatron took Prevuil’s job as God's scribe ages ago. Prevuil has moved down to working in collections to his heart's content. He was hard to talk to and he likes it down there so it’s better for everyone. Though to be honest Metatron has proven to be just as hard to talk to…”

  
“That seems… huh. I didn’t realise that could ever happen to Prevuil. So humans-turned-angels can replace actual angels now? Angels as high in rank as God's scribe? That’s somewhat worrying.”

  
“Ha, thats where you’re wrong Aziraphale.” Gabriel was smiling a bit too much and patted Aziraphale’s shoulder a touch too hard. “We shouldn’t worry if we’re doing a great job. And w- you’re doing a great job.”

  
“Oh well thank you. You’re doing a-“

  
“I know I am.”

  
“A-ahah.”

  
“I was told it was the demon Crawley wandering in this area. Your charge.” Gabriel continued nevertheless.

  
“Yes,” Aziraphale muttered. “Though he goes by Crowley now.”

  
Gabriel looked taken aback by a mixture of amusement and bewilderment. Blinking his bright violet eyes. “He changed his name? That’s odd. He’s still the same demon.”

  
“That’s up to him I suppose.” Aziraphale replied with a shrug, though he’d directed his eyes down towards the water. “He said he didn’t like that Crawley made him sound like an insect.”

  
“Well… He is one as far as we’re concerned.” Gabriel muttered, looking at Aziraphale with a hint of intrigue. “Is this a usual topic to pop up in general conversation while you’re battling each other?”

  
Aziraphale narrowed his eyes and watched the river as he thought of an answer. Gabriel noticed he’d picked a wrap of cloth out of somewhere and looked at that with twice as much intrigue. “I suppose so.” Aziraphale mumbled.

  
“What’s that?”

  
“This?” The blond angel brightened and opened it excitedly. “This is lunch!”

  
“... Lunch…” Gabriel muttered, looking downcast as the felt pulled apart to reveal a bushel of grapes, a chunk of bread and some expensive looking cheese, white with preserving wax. A single small knife tucked in the corner to open it with.

  
“Yes!” The angel gushed happily, cheeks rosy as he grinned. “Would you like to share? Lunch is best shared by a river-”

  
“No thanks.”

  
“O-K then.” Aziraphale quickly retreated from the conversation, stuffing a grape into his mouth and looking away as if he wished he’d never offered.

  
Gabriel was watching him with a look akin to irritation. “We’re not here for a picnic you know.”

  
“No- I-”

  
“Put that away. You need to go find Crowley now.”

  
“I do?” Aziraphale looked back at Gabriel in surprise. “Is that what you needed to tell me?”

  
“Yes, we’re here to guard Jesus.”

  
The angel nearly choked on a grape and swallowed awkwardly. “Crowley’s targeting Christ?”

  
“That’s what I’d heard.” He gestured across the river. “Jesus is about to be baptised across the river there. After that he’ll go into the desert and have a ritual fast. I heard that hell is sending it’s demons to try to tempt Christ while he’s out fasting and at his most vulnerable. I have to be here to protect the baptising itself, so it’s your job to go try and find Crowley before he gets to do anything. After the baptizing I can’t follow Christ out into the desert.”

  
“Why not?” Aziraphale questioned as he packed his lunch away.

  
Gabriel hesitated, trying to find a way around admitting that he hated deserts and had no interest in avoiding scorpions for 40 days and nights. “I need to be in Rome at the senate. I’m going to learn some more about this Pontius they’re going to send as the next Governor. I heard they want to appoint Pontius Pilate, he’s relatively unknown so I’m just going to get a good look at him.”

  
“Ah, the last one didn’t last long did he?”

  
“No, Tiberius is getting quite tired so he’s sending a proper soldier now. The Pontius are a historically military family.”

  
“I didn’t think Tiberius cared for much except little boys on his island.”

  
“Why’s that? Does he want another son?”

  
The angel slowly turned to look at Gabriel and didn’t say anything for many seconds. Aziraphale wondered if Gabriel remembered that humans nearing their 70’s generally weren’t able to have children? (Though that didn’t stop them from trying). And it held no significance next to what was rumoured to be going on. “No.” He replied slowly.

  
“That’s cryptic. Then what?”

  
“You must know that the Imperator’s life has been rife with demonic activity.”

  
“What would he want with little boys?”

  
“... I’ll spare you the details.”

  
“Aziraphale, what could that possibly mean? You do remember that I’m your superior right? No matter how long I’ve had to be down here on this rock.”

  
Aziraphale leapt at the chance to derail the conversation. “You’ve only been on earth for three decades, are you that excited to get back to not being here?”

  
Gabriel hesitated before admitting. “Of course I am. I’m an Archangel, no Archangel has had to be down here this long. I’ve got much better things to do that protect-”

  
“The son of God?”

  
“... Yes he is the son of God. Fine, he’s important.”

  
“You should be honoured to have the chance to defend such an important human! I think he’s quite charming.” Azirapale felt like his and Gabriel's roles had been reversed as he encouraged his fellow angel to do something he was admitting he didn’t want to do (Gabriel must really be tired if he was admitting that) but Aziraphale wasn’t going to shirk away from the chance.

  
“Charming or not, he’s extremely hard to deal with. I only just managed to get them to leave before King Herod killed every infant he could see trying to find him. Your demon did some exceptional work with that guy.” Gabriel muttered narrowing his eyes.

  
“Uh yeah… It was a shame I couldn’t foresee that.” Aziraphale was averting his gaze again.

  
“Then when I finally get to get rid of Herod, his successor’s just as bad. It’s taken this long just to finally get Christ here. At least John was easier to handle. Though his father was an irritation-”

  
“What did his dad do?”

  
“Zechariar? He insisted I was some mongrel off the street! He didn’t believe a word I told him about his son being conceived. When I finally convinced him of that, he said he insisted on the boy receiving the family name instead of naming him John like I was instructing him to. So I took his voice for 9 months till the boy was born and Zechariar did name him correctly.”

  
Aziraphale scoffed and desperately held back a laugh.

  
“What? He should just do as I was telling him to do! He was being obstinate!” Gabriel protested.

  
“You can tell an angel what to do, but humans don’t just do as you tell them all the time Gabriel.” Aziraphale carefully retorted, trying not to step on the wrong side of his superior. “You’re used to just telling angels to do things and they don’t question it. But dealing with humans… They have choices to make. Treat them like treating demons, you have to convince them.”

  
“You’ve been doing a lot of thinking Aziraphale.” Gabriel warned. “You can’t convince a demon with diplomacy.”

  
“No- no I take that back. Just… they’re not like angels Gabriel. Be patient with them. Remember free will.”

  
“I know what free will is. We had a war about free will.”

  
“Yes but you need to understand it.”

  
“What more is there to understand? Zechariar shouldn’t have questioned me if he’s truly as devout as everyone said he was to deserve fathering John.”

  
“He still had to check you weren’t a demon deceiving him Gabriel.”

  
Gabriel frowned, he wasn’t really getting it. “But I’m clearly not a demon.”

  
Aziraphale backed off carefully. “How was he to know that?” The two stared at each other for a moment, Gabriel was too indignant to answer.

  
“Either way, you’d better get to work.” Gabriel instructed, the other angel stood up and dusted himself off before Gabriel continued. “And change out of that Toga if it’s going to get yourself in trouble with the Jews here. Vanity is a sin after all.”

  
Aziraphale narrowed his eyes. “Vanity? You do realise you’re wearing a toga too right?”

  
“Yes but I’m going to Rome next.”

  
“... A royal purple toga?”

  
“Why does the colour come into it?”  
The blond angel huffed and marched through the reeds and out of sight without giving an answer.

  
Gabriel grunted and turned back to watching the opposite bank, still uncomfortable on his wooden log-chair. He’d always hated all of this earth business, that was for lesser angels. He just hoped that all of this son-of-god stuff would actually amount to something. Why did humans need a saviour among them if angels were there watching over them anyway? Angels had been lazy with their watch over earth, Gabriel had been saying it for centuries. Sending in a demigod wouldn’t solve that problem, if anything it would make angels lazier, like Aziraphale and his lunches.

  
But he supposed what he was most irritated about was being levelled down to being akin to a guardian angel, the lowest of the low. Yes Jesus was important, but maybe give him the best guardian angel then, or maybe a principality, sending Gabriel down felt like either overkill or a demotion in disguise. He’d never really felt happy with it, but it wasn’t his place to question that, he did his job and he’d done it well. He’d done it so well maybe he wouldn’t ever have to come down here again.

  
Eventually over the crest of the opposite dune, a group of humans arrived, led by the two humans he’d had a part in bringing to the world, John and Jesus. If you had a part in miracling their conception did that make them be related to you? Gabriel shook the thought from his head, angels didn’t serve families. And he had no interest in being related to them anyhow, they were extremely dim creatures.

  
As he watched the companions excitedly prepare for the event, Gabriel sat with one elbow on his knee, resting his chin in his palm. He was cloaked from them, so they believed they were alone. Given the political climate the whole thing had to be kept rather quiet, so only Jesus, his disciples and the most devout followers were attending the proceedings.

  
As they went, Gabriel listened and felt for any demonic activity, or any humans that might try and interrupt them. Eyes flitting around and ears twitching like a guard dog. His spare hand planted in the sand and clawing at it with tension he didn’t realise he had.

  
The minutes passed by excruciatingly slowly, the humans horribly jovial while Gabriels heart pounded. If this went wrong he didn’t dare think of what might happen, and if it all went correctly, the majority of his job would be done, he’d have successfully protected Christ as he’d grown up. Though he had no idea how long the boy was going to be around, the murmurs of his fate had been grim, and prophets hinted at him not living long past 30. In which case Gabriel maybe only had about 5-7 more years of this nonsense to sit through.

  
The tanned jewish man on the cusp of 30, had been standing barefoot in the river for a minute or so now, when Gabriel realised that he was looking straight at him.

  
He froze and cocked his head curiously, nobody else had seen him but Jesus smiled slightly. Well he was the son of God, perhaps he could see angels past cloaking, it wasn’t too much of a stretch of the imagination to come to that conclusion. Come to think of it, Jesus shouldn’t know who he was unless Mary had described Gabriel to him. He’d not seen the boy since he was a baby, since he’d had to do his ‘Guardian’ing afield. Thinking he’d been possibly recognised from being described in stories felt strangely uplifting. He gave Christ a little nod.

  
Suddenly there was a burst of light from the olive tree, and after a moment of adjustment the men and the angel could see a shining dove where the warbler had been sat.

  
The earth fell silent, even Gabriel widened his eyes in shock, the river flattened into a still reflection of the scene and the dove spread its wings.

  
“Can you hear it? Is it speaking?” A man whispered, and the others all murmured in excitement.

  
Gabriel's eyes flitted from the bird to the people as more and more of them spoke up as if they were hearing something. Cold tendrils clutched around Gabriels heart and he stared back at the dove, straining his ears. But he heard nothing.

  
Why nothing?

  
That was God right? Right there in front of him. And he couldn’t hear them?

  
He stood up quickly, but his mouth was dry and he found he couldn’t say anything. The humans voices were rumbling into cheers now, and Jesus was beaming. The dove finally turned to look at Gabriel and he froze.

  
Thank you for looking after my son? You did a good job?

  
Anything?

  
And then the dove was gone, without so much as a sound.

  
Gabriel found that he could breathe again and he looked down at the river that had begun to ripple with the wind as it returned. He’d even been shivering, and worked hard to calm himself, staring wide eyed as he tried to figure out what was going on.

  
It had been thousands of years he realised, since he’d last heard God, let alone seen them. Was it that hard for God to so much as acknowledge him?  
He let out a shaky breath and looked up at the people again, they were cheering and dancing around their prophet happily, ecstatic after the blessing they’d just recieved, all of their worries about defying Roman rule dashed. He finally identified his strange emotion, it was jealousy.

  
Angels couldn’t be jealous, and Angels shouldn’t seek gratification either. So he closed his eyes and pushed the thoughts away, as far away as they could. He had a job to do in Rome.

  
But the disappointment festered inside him, unnoticed.


	2. Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I never expected to follow up that last chapter, and yet here we are, with gags and some answers.
> 
> Jesus wakes himself up, true. But they didn't expect him to be sealed inside a rock tomb, so Gabriel comes to let him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah never expected to be here, never wanted to actually give Jesus or God any words in my fics, but it was kinda unavoidable here. The main thing I wanted to write were the gags at the beginning and Aziraphale's sarcastic relationship with Gabriel, which I enjoyed :) I hope you enjoy it too
> 
> I also did limited research for this, I wrote it all on a train ride with little to no internet.

The night was dark, the clouds concealing any light from the moon and reflected back firelight from the earth's surface, colouring them a menacing red.

A silent figure wandered the streets of Jerusalem, humming a tune to himself, sipping wine from a flask and petting a few goats he passed, muttering about how wonderfully healthy they looked. He approached a hill outside the city, peaked by a solitary tomb covered in picked flowers that were beginning to look rather dried out.

As he neared the top of the hill he grimaced at the armoured bodies littering the ground. He knelt down and stroked a hand across one guards helmet, carefully turning it and peering around at the face.

“Oh-“ he dropped the head in sickened shock and looked away, only noticing that his hand was covered in blood from the helmet and tried to wipe it off on the grass. There was only more blood on the grass and he stood up repulsed. “Oh- lord- Oh- Thats gross-“

“Aziraphale, is that you?” Came a stern voice from somewhere amongst the tombs.

“Ah- yes- I-“ The angel stammered. He miracled his hands clean but wiped the memory away on his toga, stepping carefully over the body and wandering to the crest of the hill. “Gabriel my lord? Where are you?”

“Over here Aziraphale.” And Aziraphale saw Gabriel, dressed in a plain grey robe beside the tombs entrance, he was sitting on a rock, cleaning a glimmering broadsword. He’d pushed a torch into the ground nearby for some light, causing the sword to flash red as he eventually sheathed it.

Aziraphale timidly wandered closer, wringing his hands together and leaning forwards as if he was about to say something but the words were caught in his throat.

Gabriel put his hands on his hips and watched him, enjoying letting him suffer for a moment longer. “... What’s up Aziraphale?”

“Y-you killed all these guards?” He sputtered.

Gabriel looked around with pursed lips and shrugged. “Yeah. … Surprising? I can do that.”

Aziraphale’s tense demeanor collapsed and he backed away, looking at the floor and doing more fidgeting with his hands. “Oh- well- I- Oh dear-“

The archangel grew tired. “Aziraphale honestly, what’s your problem?”

“What did they do?”

“They stood between me and Jesus’ tomb that’s what.” He spoke like it was obvious.

“Ah well- yes-,”

“You’ve killed people Aziraphale why is this any different?” The angel huffed one last time and looked sadly at the closest body. Gabriel frowned. “You knew them.”

“Yes we- they were kind to me.”

“Hm, well they made a mistake.”

“Hmph,” The angel closed his eyes and whispered quietly.

“What are you doing?” The archangel inquired. Carefully.

Aziraphale opened one eye. “Blessing them?”

“Why bless them?”

“Don’t you pray for those you kill?”

“No! Why would I do that? If I kill anybody they’re all going to hell anyway. Because guess who’s in charge of them getting to heaven?”

“God?”

“Yes! And I am the voice of God. So blessing them would be like writing a letter to myself. Plus you do realize these soldiers were the ones that argued about who got what of Christs clothing?”

“Well it makes sense, clothes go to waste in a tomb, it’s normal to loot the criminals that get executed.”

“That may be right but they were still in my way here.”

“... These soldiers were only following orders.”

“Those orders were… in the path of fate. And since these had a part in crucifying Christ, if they were really good they would’ve refused.”

Aziraphale looked up and narrowed his eyes at Gabriel. “Yes, if they didn’t like the orders, they’d just have to say no.”

The Archangels fake smile intensified. They watched each other for a good moment. “It’s up to them what they do.”

“They had every option.”

“Of course. If they don’t like the orders they don’t follow through, simple as.”

“Oh sure, orders are just suggestions to humans anyway. Of course it depends on the superior, if their superior is morally good then they're fine, but if a superiors morals are questionable at best, its the soldiers duty to refuse. And the repercussions for that aren’t much anyhow. A night without food, getting  _ publicly ostracized. _ ”

“I mean they’d  _ avoid  _ getting cast into hell, any repercussions before that are a small price to pay next to avoiding hell.”

Aziraphale left another pause. “So  _ any  _ soldier that follows their opinions and says no to a superior… avoids falling.”

“... Humans don’t fall, they get cast.”

Aziraphale took a deep breath. “Biiiiig difference.”

Gabriel's hand clapped onto Aziraphale’s shoulder. “Glad you understand.”

“Yes, superior.”

“Do you bless the people you remove?” The Archangel questioned but was already moving towards the tomb.

Aziraphale seemed to be caught off guard but eventually shrugged and followed. “No, no I suppose I don’t. I guess I just thought you would- you know what neverm-“

“Did you call me lord earlier?” Gabriel clearly hadn't been listening, and the next question caught Aziraphale by so much surprise that he forgot to care.

“Oh! Uh, yes, yes I did.”

Gabriel had been inspecting the tombs sealing rock, and turned to look at Aziraphale sternly. “Lord is God for us. I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

“Um…” Aziraphale furrowed his brows thoughtfully. “My Archangel?”

“Hm,”

“Sir?”

“Better but-“

“My angel?”

“... let's just stick to Gabriel.” He turned to the rock and had a thought. “Hey Aziraphale you’ve been keeping yourself in shape right?”

“Huh? Oh, yes!”

The archangel smiled, stepped back and tapped the stone. Aziraphale didn’t look like he got it at first so Gabriel added a prompt. “Let’s get inside,”

The Angel didn’t seem to get it for a moment longer, then seemed to pretend he still hadn’t got it before finally sighing and rubbing his hands together. “Fine, fine.”

He stepped up to the rock in the tombs entrance and made a show of looking over it, trying to delay. He brushed his hands across it to find the best points of purchase and then did his best to lift.

The rock barely budged.

Gabriel put a hand to his chin to cover a less fake smile.

Aziraphale tried a number of different positions to pull at the rock, his sandals slipped on the wet grass and his face went red with effort. Finally Gabriel finally decided to put him out of his misery. You had to have fun somehow.

“Come on Aziraphale, you’ve made about as much progress as a sloth with arthritis.”

“This rock is about three times the size of me Gabriel!” The puffing angel retorted as The taller angel pushed himself between the short one and the rock. 

“Still shouldn’t be a problem for a Principality Aziraphale.”

The Principality stepped back, crossed his arms and looked away adamantly as Gabriel flexed and pulled the rock away without so much as breaking a sweat.

He turned to look at Aziraphale who slowly looked back around. He clicked a hand and gestured into the tomb. Aziraphale frowned. “What’s a sloth?”

“Aziraphale have you honestly not traveled at all yet?”

“... I’ve been busy. You’ve kept me busy.”

Gabriel shrugged and gestured to the tomb again. “Correct answer I suppose.”

This time Aziraphale crouched through the doorway and shuffled down underground.

The tomb felt like a capsule of dry cool air. The flickering of the torch outside did little to let them see what was inside. Aziraphale quietly whispered into his palm and a focus of luminescence rose from his hand, blanketing the room in warm holy light. The angels breath hitched in his throat as he took in the gaunt features of Christ wrapped in white, modestly-decorated blankets on the dusty ground inside.

The Archangel didn’t seem bothered at all. “There’s the lad.” He slipped inside, having to kneel into the small space. “Ugh couldn’t he have gotten an Egyptian style tomb or something? This place is a little beneath him really.”

“I don’t think that’s the kind of message we’re trying to… portray.”

“Materialism and all that, I know, but I should be able to stand up. Now, he should be waking himself up in a minute.”

“Waking himself up? Why are we here?”

“Well he’s died Aziraphale, we didn’t expect him to be buried in a stone tomb like this. Do you think a man that’s recently died and then come back to life will be able to push a rock like that out of the way?”

Aziraphale huffed. “No I suppose not. Though digging himself out of the ground doesn’t seem easy either… You could move the rock by yourself. Why am I here?”

“I have to admit uhh…” The archangel rubbed his chin again and looked at Christ. “I haven’t actually spoken to him before.”

“What?!” Aziraphale knocked his head against the rock ceiling in his surprise and grunted. “Not- not even once?”

“No, been busy.”

“Honestly Gabriel.”

The Archangel bristled. “Don’t  _ honestly  _ me Aziraphale, you couldn’t fathom how much work I’ve been doing down here.”

“Alright, alright Gabriel I get it. You want me to introduce you?”

“No,” Gabriel looked up and gave Aziraphale a soft smile. “You’re gonna enjoy this.”

Aziraphale was drenched with dread. “What?  _ What?” _

“Honestly you will,”

“Gabriel I have to say I’m not enjoying this back and forth mood you’ve been in today-“

“Really it’ll be easy.”

“WHAT will be easy?!”

“You’re going to introduce yourself  _ as  _ me. All the best!” He slapped a hand on Aziraphale’s back and turned to retreat but the lesser angel grabbed his toga with surprising force.

“WHAT GABRIEL?”

“What Aziraphale?”

Aziraphale hissed. “You’re that willing to avoid talking to humans that you’d let me parade with your title? Well I’m not participating in this charade!”

“Hey- hey, hey  _ Aziraphale _ .” Gabriel waved his hand in front of Aziraphale, eyes wide. “Nobody will know, what’s the big deal. This is a secret between you, me and that deaf, dumb and blind rock by that entrance. Unless one of those Romans are still conscious,  _ which I could go and double check _ .”

“Permission to speak frankly, and… without restraint.”

Gabriel seemed surprised. “You’re an angel of the Lord Aziraphale, you always have permission to speak your mind.”

Aziraphale hesitated and the Archangel furrowed his brows curiously, but Aziraphale continued. “I think… you’re frightened of talking to Christ-“

“Very funny Aziraphale-“

“No I’m serious Gabriel!”

“So am I!”

“No you’re-“

“Just deal with the human!”

“You’re acting like a child!”

“Me? A child?”

“Yes! And I don’t know why but-“

“Aziraphale-“

“Gabriel!” The angel retorted forcefully. “I asked to speak my mind, would you let me finish a sentence?”

The Archangel’s eyes held ice. “You’re mind is clearly not in the best condition right now Aziraphale. Do you have a problem with what I’ve asked you to do?”

A battle raged in Aziraphale’s eyes. One side telling him to let it slide, the other not. “What about what we were talking about with the soldiers?”

Gabriel leant back and stared at the angel. “How does that apply here Aziraphale?”

The angel knew it was hopeless because any questioning of Gabriel's morals was a non-starter. He sighed and rubbed his brow, there was no hope of winning here. “You go wait outside. I’ll do the  _ dealing with the human _ thing.”

“Good man, it’s what you’re best at.” Gabriel murmured quietly, eyes glimmering as he backed out of the tomb.

“Aziraphale?” The Archangel froze as a meek voice emanated from the back of the tomb. He turned to see Aziraphale smile at him.

“That’s your plan blown out of the water, he still recognizes me.” The angel whispered, he turned his head to look at the figure slowly sitting up in the dark. “Hello old frie- Oh lord!”

“Hm? What’s wrong angel?” The body wheezed.

“Nothing, you’re just, err… you just look a bit… necrotic right now. Let me just…” The angel reached into his robe and pulled out a small bag. “This was for me but it should help set your faculties up again. Its bread and fish.”

Jesus, as it were. Had been cleaned up by his friends before being buried, but he still had some nasty scars on his hands and a sallow complexion. He was still in his early 30’s, wrapped in funeral rags and trinkets, he looked bleary eyed and looked like he couldn’t focus on anything yet, needing Aziraphale to guide his hands to the lunchbox. “Who were you talking to?” He croaked.

“This is Gabriel.” The Archangel made to leave again but Aziraphale yanked him back inside by his robe. He cursed under his breath but Aziraphale paid no heed. “He opened your tomb for you, you were sealed in by a rather hefty rock. He carried it all by himself!”

“Gabriel?” Christ looked around carefully, slowly coming to his senses though it still felt a little disturbing. Gabriel himself was still looking at the entrance to the tomb but had finally settled to sit in the small space. The principality noted how tense he suddenly looked. “The Archangel?”

“Yes, he’s here.”

Jesus smiled. “We finally meet.” There was a moment of silence as Gabriel made no reaction, but he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. He saw a chunk of bread held out by a hand beside him. “Eat with me old friend. There’s so much I’d like to ask you.”

Gabriel didn’t turn his head. “I don’t consume… matter.”

“Oh! Right, Aziraphale mentioned that he was an odd one before.” Jesus seemed to chuckle past his dry throat, putting on friendliness though he was clearly still in some pain. The principality handed him a flask of water and Jesus took it gratefully.

The Archangel scratched the back of his head. “Uhh…” He seemed to force himself to relax. “Your family is well.”

“Oh really? Thank you for watching over them. How long was I asleep?”

“About 3 nights.” The Principality replied, he paused as he realised he’d passed Jesus his wine flask and not his water flask. He didn’t say anything as wine was finished off, looking like it took all of his restraint to not grab it back.

Jesus gasped and handed the flask back. “Three nights?”

“Three nights.” Aziraphale tipped the flask upside down, it was definitely empty.

Jesus looked back at Gabriel as the silence continued. “Thank you for watching over me all this time Gabriel.”

“Hm,” Gabriel’s fingers rested on his lips again.

“It must’ve been lots of work, forgive me.”

“Yeah,”

“You did an amazing job.”

The fact that they currently sat in a tomb however, hung heavy in the air. Though they all also knew that that had had to happen.

“I’m gonna… check.” He didn't specify what, but the Archangel finally squeezed out of the shallow tomb and slunk outside.

Jesus sighed and sat back against the rock. “Are all Archangels like that?”

“No! No…” Aziraphale murmured. “He’s just…”

“Shy?”

“Shy?!” Aziraphale chuckled. “No, no Gabriel is probably the most proud and boastful Angel around. No he’s just…” The Principality looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, imagining the man above them. “I’m still figuring it out myself but… I think he feels threatened.”

“By me?”

“Unfortunately yes.” The angel placed a gentle hand on Christs shoulder. “I’ve never really seen him like that before, unable to talk, or unwilling. He usually has something to spit. He’s never looked frightened, not even when facing death himself…” Aziraphale blinked and looked at Jesus seeming to realize something. “Oh sorry! That talk is probably quite confusing or frightening to you. Something that happened millenia ago-”

Jesus smiled gently. “No no… It’s fascinating.”

“R-right.” He smiled and patted Christs hand softly. “You’re smarter than we give you credit for. Sorry. I’m used to… downplaying it… I shouldn’t.”

“I understand.”

The angel smiled but still held some doubts. “Uhh, a- about Gabriel… It’s not your fault. I think… he’s used to always being the most important angel in the room, besides the other Archangels. You’re the first being around the material and heavenly planes that could rank above him, order him around even. He feels as though angels were doing a great job for humanity without God intervening and sending you, so perhaps he thinks that you’re a symbol of some perceived failure. There’s also that humans have been becoming angels in the last century or so, taking high positions…”

“He thinks that I’ll replace him?” Jesus looked surprised.

The angel shrugged. “In a way… yes. He’s worked hard for a long time. Your appearance and his having to defend you is almost… offensive?”

Jesus looked down at his hands with a frown. “That’s why he avoided me. I could see him watching though, he still did his job well. Though he shouldn’t be afraid of me taking his work.” He leant in close to Aziraphale, even though they were alone. “In all honesty… I’m all up for not ever having to work again, no matter what’s up there.”

The angel laughed again. “Is that so? I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear that. Perhaps you’ll get talking more later.”

“Why would Gabriel be so worried about losing his position though?” Jesus queried. “As far as I understand it, you were all made to fit your jobs perfectly. Gabriel should be the perfect being… Irreplaceable.”

The angel looked sympathetic. “Ah… yes well… Speaking of those millenia ago… Something that may have been glossed over in the stories…”

“... Yes?” They leant even closer together.

“The first war between angels and demons, at the beginning of it all. You must realize… Before lots of those angels rebelled, they were our friends.” The two met each others gazes as the angel made sure the understanding of that sank in. “Some of Gabriels close friends even. And then he had to fight them, and know how close he might’ve come to falling as well… That kind of thing scars you, and I think he’s driven by that. Though that was also the point of us setting an example by… casting the demons down.”

They were silent for a moment, both looking at the floor. “Were some of those angels your friends too?”

The angel hesitated. “Honestly it was so long ago, I can barely remember. I just remember seeing their skin melt, their flesh succumb to rot, their wings burn in to black, their eyes… even watch their souls corrode away. They’re uncomparable to their angelic selves, I couldn’t match them to their former names.”

“That sounds… awful. You must be frightened of falling too.”

“Well of course we all are.”

“That demon though… I met one, he showed me lots of places in the world that I’d never seen before-“

“Red hair?”

“Yes him, I've never seen red hair before.”

“There’s some in Rome, travelers from the north have it, and I’ve heard of some clothing dyes being made for hair to make it red… anyway that demon’s called Cra- Crowley. And he’s quite amenable compared to the rest.”

“He was.”

“Gabriel though,” The angel cleared his throat and changed the topic. “He’d never let God down. Whether he was frightened of you or not, he looked after you. There’s nothing else he’d want more than to do his job well.”

“I thank him for it, and I’m sure God thanks him for it.”

The angel smiled and squeezed his hand. “I’m sure they do, but I think he’d like to hear that from them every once in a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more fics I write, the more I discover differences between British spellings I write, and the American spellings google tries to correct it to. For instance, I thought Leaned and Learned were jokes, I didn't think they were actually officially spelt that way. Dot the "i"s and cross the "t"s, it's Leant and Learnt. I hope nobody minds if I spell things the way I learnt to spell them! Everyone's free to whatever of course.

**Author's Note:**

> After this Aziraphale found Crowley, told him that Gabriel believed he’d caused the infant massacre and gave him a bottle of Wine to enjoy before getting back to Greece because he also didn’t want to spent 40 days in a desert, and he trusts that Crowley is harmless.
> 
> Gabriel went to Rome, discovered that it was even grosser then Israel, got one look at Pilate and decided that that was enough research for now.


End file.
